Letter of Recommendation: Hangovers | Hacker News Reader

Letter of Recommendation: Hangovers

nytimes.com

55 pointsjuanplusjuan21 comments

Ouch, this is clearly meant to be (at least somewhat) tongue-in-cheek. Calling it "drug abuse" is a little extreme unless you're familiar personally with the author.

It doesn't seem like it's affecting his life in an incredibly detrimental way, supposing that at some point when the hoopla of a book release dies down he stops drinking every night (and even then, the quantity consumed is an incredibly important component).

It's just jokes.

In junior school I had a friend who was considered a little weird. One day during break I came across him repeatedly hitting his head against a wooden wall. He wasn't doing it especially hard - but I was certain it was hurting him. When I asked him why he was hitting his head against the wall he said, "It feels good when I stop".

This author is basically the drug addict version of my junior school friend. They're both idiots - but one was 8 and the other is a respected author.

Your friend was quoting a very old joke. The earliest example I could find in a quick search was 1919: http://forum.quoteland.com/eve/forums/a/tpc/f/99191541/m/600...

A good workout at the gym could have similar effects and is a much healthier alternative.

Kingsley Amis wrote what was probably the best description of a hangover, as recounted by Dick Cavett here...

http://opinionator.blogs.nytimes.com/2011/01/28/the-wrath-of...

Really, now -- I like getting trashed as much as the next guy, unless the next guy is one of that interesting subset of HN commenters who appear to regard it as "drug abuse", but how completely buried in your own head do you have to spend your sober days for a hangover to seem psychically transformative?

So many less painful ways of reaching this mental state with greater clarity. But if it works for him, then cool I guess.

How? Serious question.

Meditation works for me. I am relatively new to it (few months) but have found what I was looking for simply by understanding that I am not my thoughts, that without them I still exist. I began to understand that thoughts are a lot like weather, or like throwing a rock in a pond. For me, I was able to move from that realization to being able to not get swept up in thoughts. This gives me the clarity that I am assuming is similar to what the author found during his hangover. The point for me is understanding that the mind and its processes are a tool. The ability to choose when to use it is freedom.

Some people may also find this through religion or (my opinion) more directly through spiritual practice outside of the framework of a given religion.

Others may use psychedelics. Medical marijuana has been helpful for me in some instances, but I tend to rely too much on it and as a personal choice now try to limit my use. I can understand how alcohol could lead a person to this but there are many healthier alternatives. I could see a person drinking themselves to death before they find it.

I love what you mention about thoughts...

I am relatively new to it (few months) but have found what I was looking for simply by understanding that I am not my thoughts, that without them I still exist. I began to understand that thoughts are a lot like weather, or like throwing a rock in a pond. For me, I was able to move from that realization to being able to not get swept up in thoughts.

Is there a personal e-mail I could contact you through? I've been in a rut for a number of years now (had a company that succeeded, was unhappy, now I don't really know what to do) and recently my thoughts about the future have been driving me a bit insane.

I tried to find a way to DM you on Hacker News, but that doesn't seem to be a feature.

I have my email on my account page.

Sure thing. I'll shoot you an email in a few

Do you have a Twitter account? I can't see your email address on HN

As another mentioned, exercise can do it. I find running to be meditative. Other than following the path (and sometimes just running) my mind is free to do whatever. No distractions like computers and TV. I usually run without music as well.

I also took up Brazilian jiu jitsu this year and I'm finding it helpful in another way. I'm not very good at it, so I have to stay focused during class and rolling trying to connect the dots. And it's sufficiently physically exhausting that once I'm done I'm ready to eat and then pass out. The next morning in feeling the soreness of my worn out muscles. Different but not totally unlike the hangovers described. The major difference being a sense of accomplishment and improvement letting me know that what I'm doing is worth the effort.

I run 5 days a week. Getting black out drunk is different. It's probably more like electroshock therapy. Think of it as running is de fragging your drive and getting blackout drunk is rebooting.

Or, "how I became comfortable with my drug abuse and began to rationalize it publicly".

Yer an alcoholic, Kent!

From a family of alcoholics, including myself at one time, In our family, when you stopped getting hangovers; That was when knew we graduated in Alcoholism. My father used to say, "I never get hangovers anymore!" He died of a liver tumor about 10 years after the last time, I recall, him saying that.

(RIP dad--no one should suffer the pain you went through! I do miss you, but not that angry personality. I know you weren't felling well during that last decade though, and forgive all the mean things you did/said to us.)

I never ever got a hangover and not for the lack of trying (heavy drinking is part of Polish culture). I doubt this particular aspect of drinking is a good test for alcoholism. In particular "still getting hangovers, not alcoholic yet" is a dangerous thought.

There's been a few times in my life where I reset myself by going on a bender. I've only done it a few times but beforehand I was in a rut - stuck motivationally, mentally exhausted, and after the bender feeling like my mind has been reset.

Sure the hangover sucked, but even with the hangover I could feel my brain being back to its normal energetic self including gaining the perspective of an outside observor that he mention in the article, making my problems less important.

I think some people do this through meditation, some through legal pharmaceuticals, and some of us by getting completely blotto on alcohol.

Weird, was this removed?

This is hacker news. Please post at http://www.reddit.com/r/alcoholism

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